Adjectival or adverbial?

Question

Hello everyone.Something different about a sentence came to my mind.We said: "about you" is an adjectival clause for "I have some doubts about you".But when we ask: "What do you have some doubts about?", We have an answer.Additionally, "About you, I have some doubts" makes sense even if it is unnaturally-ordered.I think that this clause(about you) is functioning on both the way.But if it was completely adjectival clause, we would not be able to put "preposition" at the beginning, would not have an answer to the question.Example,This is the man with red hat.Does "with red hat, this is the man" work? Definitely no.This proofs that "with red hat" is an adjectival clause here.But "about you" in the first example can function as either an adjectival clause or an adverbial clause.(Some grammar sites says that when we encounter these kinds of clauses functioning as an adjectival clause and an adverbial clause at the same time, We generally should consider it as an adjectival clause.) Maybe, this is why you first said: "It is an adjectival clause".What do you think?

Englishmaven · Accepted Answer

I think you have an interesting post. I don't agree with you, though. Everything is not equal. Different prepositions work in different ways, even if they modify nouns. (Incidentally, you are not discussing clauses. A clause has a subject and a verb that have a subject-verb relationship. You are discussing prepositional phrases.)

This is the book in question.

In question, this is

This is the book in question.

In question, this is the book. (This doesn't work.)

I have the book in question. You can't even ask, "What do you have the book in?" It doesn't make sense.

In question, I have the book. (When you change the word order, it doesn't work, either.

This is because the prepositions are different.

Adjectival or adverbial?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions